A 35-year-old woman committed suicide after she was allegedly gangraped in Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, police said on Wednesday. The woman was picked up by four persons in a jeep on Tuesday who allegedly raped her in Badi forest area and dumped her on the road. The victim somehow

returned home, set herself on fire and sustained serious burn injuries to which she succumbed on late Tuesday night.

In her dying declaration, the woman blamed four persons for driving her to commit suicide, but failed to identify them.

She told the police that while returning home she was forcefully taken away by four men who allegedly gangraped her.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons.

Therefore it is a kind request please take appropriate action at earliest.

A five-month pregnant married Dalit woman, 19, was allegedly abducted and raped by two men in northern Haryana's Kaithal district, leaving the state reeling under the impact of the 15th reported sexual assault on its women within a month. The incident came to light on Wednesday, a day

after Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited the family of a 15-year-old rape victim in Jind district who committed suicide.

Kaithal police have arrested the two accused, Rakesh and Pawan, on the woman's complaint, said district superintendent of police Kuldeep Singh.

According to the woman, the accused abducted her around 4am on Tuesday when she had gone out of her house to answer nature's call.

Singh said, "Investigation has revealed a call was made from the woman's phone to accused Rakesh at 3.20am on Tuesday. The call details and other evidence will be placed in court."

The series of rapes have raised a political storm in Haryana, where the powerful khaps have suggested lowering the marriageable age of boys and girls to 16 years to curb incidents of sexual assault.

On Tuesday, Gandhi had taken on the khaps, saying law was solely in the hands of the judiciary. Former Haryana chief minister and INLD leader Om Prakash Chautla, however, supported the khap panchayats' suggestion on Wednesday, citing a Mughal-era practice.

"The Mughal sultanate in this country used to misbehave with women... to prevent that, people started getting their young girls married early so that no one did anything wrong to them… currently a similar situation is arising in the state."

In Delhi, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Centre was monitoring the situation in Haryana.

Therefore it is a kind request please take appropriate action at earliest.

Around 20 children go missing in Delhi every day. Around eight of them — or 40% — are never seen again, Delhi Police records show. According to police statistics, 1,153 children went missing between July 16 and September 15 this year, approximately half of them trapped by

traffickers. While 688 children were found, 465 remain untraceable. Many of the victims are infants.

Police said many of the children were rescued from placement agencies, factories and homes, where they had been employed as workers or domestic helps. Some had wandered off on their own.

"Most children who go missing in Delhi end up in traffickers' hands. Children below eight years are forced into begging. The older ones are pushed into child labour. Organised gangs kidnap minors and transport them to other cities," said Rakesh Senger, national secretary of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an organisation helping the police in rescuing such children.

Sube Singh's nine-year-old son was last seen playing outside his home in south Delhi's Sangam Vihar in August 2011. "The authorities have no clue where he is. I go to the local police almost every second day with hope," said Singh, a factory worker.

Last month, the parents of another nine-year-old boy got lucky. The police traced their child to a shelter home in Lajpat Nagar after more than two-and-a-half years. The boy had gone missing from near his house in west Delhi's Nihar Vihar.

Cases of disappearance have shot up by more than 40% this year. In 2010 and 2011, around 14 children went missing every day. Around 11 were traced.

The police have identified 18 hotspots — mostly slums in the city's outskirts — from where most of the cases are reported. In 2011, 191 children went missing from Khajuri Khas (east Delhi) and 115 from Karawal Nagar (outer Delhi).

Around 100 children disappeared from Aman Vihar and Shahbad Dairy (both in outer Delhi) as well as Gokulpuri (east Delhi).

Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said special measures were being taken to curb the problem.

"We have started by identifying the areas where children go missing. We will soon launch an awareness programme to educate parents how to safeguard their children. We take missing persons' complaints very seriously," said Bhagat.

Rishikant, executive director of Shakti Vahini, an NGO, said strict laws against trafficking could act as a deterrent.

"There should also be regular checks on placement agencies and illegal factories," he said.

Therefore it is a kind request please take appropriate action at earliest.